Samsung phone write cycle count app?

[Mike S]

I have a friend whose phone slowed down quite a bit, he did the usual
stuff (clear cache, remove unneeded apps including stuff running in the
background) but it's still frustratingly slow. It's a Samsung and it's 4
years old and he uses it a lot.

I read about write cycle limits per memory cell here:

"Note that TLC is a type of NAND memory pioneered by Samsung. It's the
cheapest to produce but has the worst durability: 4,000 write cycles per
cell versus 10,000 in the more standard MLC type. This might be why
Samsung devices have a reputation for slowing down more than non-Samsung
devices."
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/phones-slow-usage-years/

I was wondering if anyone knows of an app that shows the write count for
memory in an Android phone.

[Phil Allison]

Mike S wrote:

===============

>
> I have a friend whose phone slowed down quite a bit, he did the usual
> stuff (clear cache, remove unneeded apps including stuff running in the
> background) but it's still frustratingly slow. It's a Samsung and it's 4
> years old and he uses it a lot.
>

** Google the topic.

I have read that such phones slow down by design as they get old, yep phones do know how old they are. Makers claim it is to preserve running time on a battery that has lost capacity - as Lithium types all do.

Others suspect it is to make you buy a new phone...



.... Phil

[Andy Burns]

Mike S wrote:

> It's a Samsung and it's 4 years old and he uses it a lot.

so lets assume a 2016 phone has 16GB

> "Note that TLC is a type of NAND memory pioneered by Samsung. It's the
> cheapest to produce but has the worst durability: 4,000 write cycles per
> cell

so that's 64 TBW ...

[Mike S]

Are you saying 64 Terrabytes written? That sounds like an awful lot.
It's probably more along the lines of what Phil said. Still, too bad
there's no display of the memory stat's.
Thanks,
Mike

[Mike S]

Thanks, Do you think running a non-std OS bypasses that programming, if
it exists?

[Andy Burns]

Mike S wrote:

> Are you saying 64 Terrabytes written? That sounds like an awful lot.

It does a bit, maybe TBW calculations should include division by
whatever block size the flash uses?

> It's probably more along the lines of what Phil said. Still, too bad
> there's no display of the memory stat's.

I don't think number of write cycles is about deliberate slowing down,
it's about reaching the point that writes start failing.

I've heard complaints about Apple deliberately slowing down older
devices, other manufacturers not so much.

[Jeff Liebermann]

Maybe:
"Samsung's HIDDEN Diagnostic Mode [Test Mode]"
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIoZ4TSAQoQ>
If you look at the tests offered, the button in the lower left is for
an "MLC" test, which might be a memory test. I don't have access to a
working Samsung phone to test this.

Hint: Samsung phone model number? It might be amusing to verify the
type of SSD used in the phone. Also, the larger SSD chips use a
rather large SLC area as a cache, which drastically reduces access
wear and tear in the MLC/TLC/QLC memory.

There are also apps that claim to do a "storage stress test":
"Phone Check and Test"
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inpocketsoftware.andTest&hl=en_US>
I'm not sure that beating up on the Flash RAM is a good idea if it's
really that fragile.
--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[Mike S]

Thanks Jeff, I'll see if he's willing to try these.